The Bengal Tiger: A Memeber of the Big Cat Family

1116 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Tigers decline in population

Bengal tigers (Panthera tigris tigris) are one of the largest members of the big cat family. They are carnivorous mammals that live primarily in India. They are renowned for their power and strength. The most famous Bengal tiger is probably Richard Parker, in Life of Pi. The Bengals live in habitats such as the Himalayan Forest, the hills of the Indian Peninsula, or the forests of Northern India. At one point in time, there were eight tiger subspecies, but three became extinct during the 20th century. There are approximately 2,500 Bengal tigers alive in the wild now, and about 300 in captivity in zoos around the world. Over the last 100 years, hunting and forest destruction have reduced tiger populations dramatically. They are hunted as trophies and also used for body parts that are used in traditional Chinese medicine. The five remaining tiger subspecies are endangered, and many protection programs are in place. Geographic Range Most Bengal tigers live in India, but some range through Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Myanmar. They live in many subtropical and tropical rainforests, dense grasslands, scrub forests, wet and dry deciduous forests, and mangroves. They are excellent and strong swimmers. They enjoy lying in rivers, lakes, and ponds and have been known to hunt and kill in the water. Bengal tigers can also be found in the mangroves of the Sundarbans, places shared between Bangladesh and India, and are the only mangrove forests where tigers are found. The Sundarbans are threatened by sea level rise as a result of climate change. Size Bengal tigers range in weight. The weight of the males range from 180-260 kg (400-570 lbs) and females range from 100-160 kg (220-350 lbs). Male Bengal tigers have an average total length of ... ... middle of paper ... ...ris tigris). The Journal of Zoo Animal Medicine 12:20-22. Guilllaume, C., D.G. Miquelle, A. Lambert, J.M. Goodrich, S. Legendre, and J. Colbert. 2008. The impact on tigers of poaching versus prey depletion. Journal of Applied Ecology 45:1667-1674. O’Brien, S.J. 2004. Phylogeography and genetic ancestry of tigers (Panthera tigris tigris). PLoS Biology 2:2275-2293. Miller, C.S., M. Hebblewhite, J.M. Goodrich, D. G. Miquelle. 2010. Review of research methodologies for tigers: Telemetry. Integrative Zoology 5:378-389. Wiedner, E.B., R. Isaza, W.A. Lindsay, A.L. Case, J. Decker, J. Roberts. 2008. Pericardial mesothelioma in a Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris). Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine 39:121-123. Lambrechts, N.E., W.L. Berry. 2000. Caudal cervical disc protrustion in a Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris). Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine 31:404-407.

Show More
Related

  • Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

    1648 Words  | 4 Pages

    Live theatre has been an important method of entertainment, self-expression and storytelling for centuries and still plays an important part in modern society for the same reasons however not all performances will successfully entertain, express or tell their story. The first and one of the most vital features of a successful show is the performances of the actors. To assess the performance of an actor there are many aspects that one must consider, I believe the most important to be vocalisation, physicalisation and characterisation. I will be critiquing The Bengal Tiger at the Bagdad Zoo, the story of the lives and afterlives of the people and animals caught in the middle of a war torn country, as performed by Persona Collective at the Annexe Theatre on the 10th-12th of April, on the performances of John Swindle and Amanda Phillips.

    Read More

  • Oncilla

    672 Words  | 2 Pages

    Patel, C. 2011. "Leopardus tigrinus" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 07, 2014 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Leopardus_tigrinus/

    Read More

  • Synthesis Essay: The Negative Effects Of Hunting

    1347 Words  | 3 Pages

    Poaching threatens the dying out of endangered species. Lions have virtually disappeared in Africa causing animal activists to protest for stricter rules on hunting big game. Damian Aspinall, director of the Aspinall Foundation, said,

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Florida Panthers

    778 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Bam bam bam” you hear gun-shots in the forest a person comes out with and endangered Jaguar its face covered in blood you want to help save its species, but you don't know how, but then you ask yourself “Do I want to save this species?” the Florida Panther should be helped and if not goodbye Florida Panther. Should we help wild cats? So many species of wild cats are endangered like the cheetah and the Back Jaguar, Tigers snow leopards, and lions are all on the endangered list. We need to help them because if there numbers drop to zero there won't be anymore wild cats. Can you imagine a world without cheetahs? Like in Asia the wild cats Asiatic cheetahs, Amur leopards, Sunda clouded leopards, clouded leopards, Asiatic lions, snow leopards and tigers are all endangered.

    Read More

  • Trophy Hunting Persuasive Essay

    1740 Words  | 4 Pages

    Flocken endorses that “...hunters are not like natural predators.They target the largest specimens; with the biggest tusks, manes, antlers, or horns.” In Defense of Animals International (IDA) argues that hunters concentrate on“game” populations and ignore “non-game” species that may lead to overpopulation and unequal ecosystems. Therefore, it affects their ecosystem, and the animals’ families. Overall, the evidence proves trophy hunting hurts the environment, specifically conservation. Therefore, the hunters’ idea that trophy hunting actually helps conservation by killing some predators to maintain balance, is merely

    Read More

  • Cats: Small animals in a dangerous world

    696 Words  | 2 Pages

    Loss, Scott R, Tom Will, & Peter P. Marra" The Impact of Free-Ranging Domestic Cats on Wildlife of the United States."Nature. Macmillan Publishers Limited, 12 Dec 2013. Web. 28 April 2014.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Exotic Animals

    729 Words  | 2 Pages

    That cute baby tiger of yours will grow up. Your tiger cub will grow up to be very big and dangerous. The quote states “Most people who own exotic

    Read More

  • Comparing Tigers

    901 Words  | 2 Pages

    Wolfe, Thomas. "The Child by Tiger." Perrine's Story and Structure. Tenth edition. Ed. Thomas R Arp. Australia: Thompson Heinle, 2002,

    Read More

  • Does Hunting Help or Hurt the Environment

    1401 Words  | 3 Pages

    Thousands of years ago, hunting may have been the cause of the extinction of the North American large land mammals. “Moving up into the 1940’s and 50’s some of today’s most prominent game animals were almost non-existent.”(Kerry G) Over-hunting will directly cause the decline in the particular animal’s species. This will effect everything around it, for example ...

    Read More

  • White Tiger Research Paper

    575 Words  | 2 Pages

    The white tiger is one of the biggest in the cat family. The white tiger is long it can grow up to 3.3 meters long and weigh as much as 300 kilograms hard to carry. Subspecies of the white tiger like Sumatran Tiger, Amur(or Siberian) Tiger, Indian (or Bengal) tiger, south china tiger, malayan tiger,indo-chinese tiger,bali tiger,javan tiger,caspian tiger thats extinct theres nine subspecies of the white tiger.A lot of subspecies are endangered or extinct because people hunt them for their fur to make jackets or sweaters and destroying their habitat.Some tiger cubs don’t live to be an adult because around half of the cubs die around 2-3 years of age.The cubs leave their mother at around 2 years old they live a long time because their mom taught them what they would know from eating to hiding from people.A group of tigers is called ambush or streak because the group may be hunting.You probably thought these tigers can’t swim because they are in the cat family but if you do you are wrong because ...

    Read More

  • The Tiger

    1041 Words  | 3 Pages

    cover.An adult tiger requires 12 pounds at a time, but it may eat as much as 60

    Read More

  • Conservation of the Saola (Vu Quang Ox or Asian Biocorn)

    862 Words  | 2 Pages

    The phenomenal recent discovery of the species saola (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis), was found in the Annamite Mountains along the Laos/Vietnam border in 1992. The saola was the first latest large mammal to be discovered in over 50 years, making it one of the biggest zoological discoveries of the 20th century. Also known as the “Asian unicorn,” the rare saola species prefer living in moist, dense evergreen forests with little or no dry season. The saolas have been attempting to survive in the condensed regions of the subtropical evergreen or mixed evergreen and deciduous forests, only found within the Annamite Mountain Range along the northwest-southeast Vietnam-Laos border (Holcomb). The area of the narrow range of the forests that the saola used to inhabit was is 5,000 to 15,000 sq. km, although they don’t inhabit in this area anymore. The saolas’ extremely scarce numbers make their dispersal difficult to determine; currently, they are known to be densely populated into the decreasing area of the evergreen forests and travel mainly individually and occasionally in clumped dispersion. They have been mainly sighted nearby streams, most likely to survive off of the water and possible supplies nearby. Saolas also tend to live on the borderlines of the forests; they currently inhabit the mountain forests during the wetter seasons and live in the lowlands during the winter. Saola are currently known to be herbivores, eating leafy plants, fig leaves, and stems along the rivers, observed from locals that have sighted them. And their shelters that they specifically reside in are unknown.

    Read More

  • Animal Welfare

    1665 Words  | 4 Pages

    Sikes, Roberts. and William L. Gannon. "Guidelines of the American Society of Mammalogists for the Use of Wild Mammals in Research." Journal of Mammalogy 92.1 (Feb. 2011): 235-253. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 5 Oct. 2011.

    Read More

  • Hunting is a Crime, Not a Sport

    445 Words  | 1 Pages

    The. In 1995, the number had been reduced to around 64 million. Within 20 years, in short, the duck population was reduced by almost one third, showing. the drastic toll hunting is taking on our wildlife. If we assume that other species have been reduced in number at approximately the same rate in recent years, then what are the larger implications for our ecological balance?

    Read More

  • Speech On Endangered Species

    1646 Words  | 4 Pages

    This provides a legal safety net to stop and slow down the loss of plant and animal species. They hold federal agencies and others accountable for complying with laws protecting rare/endangered animals using persuasion and cooperation. They recommend increased funding for private landowners and conservation programs that could benefit animals. They protect and restore habitats that were lost. NWF also reduces threats to wildlife that can lead to endangerment including loss of habitat and pollution. India is now halting tiger tourism to prevent extinction of the animals. About 1,411 of these animals live in the wild, and they are in danger of being “loved to death.” Experts fear these big cats will become extinct in only five years. Poaching is the main reason for many deaths, but tourism has also impacted the tigers. The tourist vehicles drive away the tigers prey and hotels have been built over passageways the tigers used to travel from one place to another. Alligators, Bald Eagles, Wolves, Grizzly Bears, and Whooping Cranes were all saved by the U.S Endangered Species Act (ESA). The WWF is addressing the major threats to Australia’s

    Read More

More about The Bengal Tiger: A Memeber of the Big Cat Family

Open Document